Sprinkler-cap bottle-closure.



PATENTED APR. 12, 1904.

' E. A. MUILHENNY.

SPRINKLER GAP BOTTLE CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1903.

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o Lima, wAsmuo l atented A rniz, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. MGILHENNY, OF NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA.

SPRINKLER-CAP BOTTLE-CLOSURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,216, dated April12, 1904. Application filed une 24, 1903. Serial No. 162,958. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it. may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. MoILHENNY, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Iberia, in the parish of Iberia and State of Louisiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sprinkler-CapBottle-' Closures; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to bottle-stoppers, and pertains especially tothe class of sprinklercap bottle-closures and means for permanentlyfixing the cap to a bottle.

The object of this invention is to provide a sprinkler-closure forbottles of such novel and peculiar construction that it may be fixedpermanently to ordinary bottles, such as are used for my Well-knowntabasco sauce, Without employing gaskets or without any specialpreparation of the bottle neck or mouth and without using a stopper.

A further object of the invention is to provide in one and the samedevice a bottle-closure and sprinkler of such structure that it may bepermanently fixed to a bottle after the latter is filled, so that thecontents may be sprinkled without detachment of the device and so thatthe bottle may not be refilled without such injury to the device as willrender it incapable for further use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device adaptedto seat an apertured disk on the mouth of a bottle and cushion it thereand having a sheet thimble or foil adapted to fit the bottle-head and becrimped around the bottle-neck for the purpose of fixing the device tothe bottle and for holding said disk over the 'mouth of the bottle.

It is well known that sprinkler screw-caps have been employed on bottleclosures and stoppers of various description; but such closures andstoppers have as many various means of attachment to the bottle head orneckfor example, by screwing the closure to the bottle-neck or otherwisepreparing the bottle neck and head for attaching the closure and byproviding the bottle neck or head with a gasket and turning a flange ofthe closure under the gasket. It is therefore the purpose and intent ofthis invention to overcome the expense, disadvantages, and objectionsfound in such sprinkler-closures and to furnish a sprinkler-closure ofsimple, inexpensive, and novel form and of such structure as to beexpeditiously applied to and form a part of abottle Without specialpreparation of the latter or supplying it with means to connect theclosure thereto.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, Figurelis an elevation of an ordinary bottle with my invention exemplified.Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail section of the closure without itsclosing-nut, showing in dotted lines the movement of the disk. Fig. 3 isa detail perspective view partly broken away. Fig. 4 is an inverted viewwith disk removed. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation showing amodification.

The same numeral references denote the same parts throughout the severalviews of the drawings.

The bottle here used to illustrate the invention is a sample of those Ihave employed many yearsfor my tabasco pepper sauce. It has a long neck.1 and a slight or small shoulder 2, found in ordinary bottle-necks nearthe head or mouth 3.

The device for closing the bottle-mouth consists of a slightly conicalplate or stiff metallic cap 4, having formed therein an inner annularconcavity or groove 5; a fiat seat or bearing-surface 6, surrounding theconcavity; a short hollow stem 7, projecting from the cavity; ascrew-nipple 8, forming a continuation of the stem, with an innershoulder 9 intervening, so that the nipple-passage or bore is of smallerdiameter than the stem-passage or bore, and said shoulder forms arestricted sprinkler-passage of such size as to readily discharge byshaking or striking the bottom of the bottle, but not of sufficient sizeto permit the bottle to be filled therethrough; a thin flexiblecushion-disk 10, of cork, rubber, or other suitable material, having acentral aperture to fit the stem 7, and thereby held to its seat orbearing-surface 6; a metallic sheet or foil thimble 15, capable of beingtwisted or crimped, formed in with the cap 4 and extending from theperiphery of the cap or the bearing-surface 6, and a closure-nut 11 forthe nipple 8. There is an interval or space 12 between the cushion andthe cap,which is formed by the concavity, so that the impact of thecontents of the bottle when shaken will be received by the cushion-diskopposite said space, and the latter will permit a vibratory action ofthe disk, and thereby prevent or avoid any action of the contents of thebottle on the cap or its foil by repeated shaking of the bottle.Repeated shaking or. continuous use of a bottle having the cap orclosure held to the bottle only by the foil may in time tend to loosenor break the foil if the contents of the bottle were permitted to makeimpact against the cap. Hence the disk is arranged to vibrate slightlyand forms a cushion for such impact.

The modification shown in Fig. A is the same as the preferred form justdescribed, except that the stem 13 has a bead 14, over which the disk isstretched to insure the latter against displacement.

The disk being placed within .the thimble and upon the seat 6 and thebottle filled, the device is attached by simply pushing the foilthimbleover the head of the bottle until the disk is seated upon the mouth ofthe bottle. Then the foil is made to impinge the head, shoulder, andneck of the bottle by a handgrasp of the foil to crimp the latter.

It is obvious that inasmuch as the foil and the cap are both in onepiece there can be no vent for or escape of the contents of the bottleother than through the sprinkler when the nut is removed, thatwhen thecap is attached the bottle is ready for the market or table use, thatthere are no separate parts to be furnished with the bottle or its cap,that the cap and bottle are intact, and that the refilling of the bottleby inferior or fraud sauce can be readily detected by observing thecondition of the foil with respect to the capthat is, the foil and thecap should not be separate and no stopper should hold the cap norintervene between the cap and the foil, nor should the disk be visible;but the periphery of the cap should lie close to and flush with theouter periphery of the bottle-mouth, so as to allow the foil to hangsmoothly over the head of the bottle.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A stopperless bottle-cap having a sprinkler-nipple formed thereon,and a foil formed on the cap and adapted tobe twisted or crimped aboutthe neck of a bottle to fix the cap thereto.

2. A bottle-cap having an annularconcavity formed therein, a diskcovering the concavity, and a thin sheet or foil thimble formed on thecap.

3. A bottle-closure comprising a cap having a sprinkler-nipple, aconcavity formed in the cap, a seat surrounding the concavity, and adisk applied to the seat over the concavity.

4:. A bottle-closure comprising acap having a sprinkler-nipple, a stemin communication with the nipple, a seat surrounding the stem, aflexible disk held by the stem on the seat, and a foil formed on the capand projecting from the periphery of the seat.

5. A bottle-closure comprising a cap having a sprinkler-nipple, a stemof larger internal diameter than the internal diameter of the nippleformed on the cap, a concavity or groove surrounding the stem, a seatsurrounding the concavity, a flexible disk fitting the stem and restingon the seat over the cavity, and a foil formed on the cap and projectingfrom .the' periphery of the seat. f

6. A bottle-closure comprising a caphaving a sprinkler-nipple, an innerstem the bore of which is of larger diameter than the bore of thenipple, a shoulder at the juncture of the stem and nipple to limit orrestrict the discharge of the latter, a seat surrounding the stem, adisk held by the stem on the seat, and a foilformed on and dependingfrom the cap to form a crimpable thimble.

7. A bottle-closure comprising a stiff metallic cap-plate having asprinkler-nipple formed thereon, a seat in the face of the plateopposite the nipple, a stem on the seat-face of the capforming acontinuation of the nipple, and a. thin sheet or metallic foilprojecting from the cap for attaching the latter to a bottle.

8. A bottle-closure comprising a cap having a sprinkler-nipple, a stemin communication with the nipple, a bead on the stem, a flexible diskfitting the stem and held thereon by the bead, and a foil-thimbledepending from the cap.

9. A bottle-cap having a sprinkler-nipple, a stem on the cap and forminga passage from the bottle to the nipple, a cork disk carried by thestem, and a flexible foil depending from the cap and adapted to betwisted or crimped about the bottle-neck to fix the cap.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD A. MoILHENNY. Witnesses:

H. J. DUPUY, A. CoUsIN, Jr.

